More than 250,000 heart valves are replaced worldwide each year due to structural defects such as valve stenosis that may lead to regurgitation. Valve stenosis is a condition where a heart valve is not able to fully open when blood is pumped through the heart because the heart valve leaflets are too stiff or fused together. Valve stenosis creates a narrowed opening that stresses the heart, which in turn can cause fatigue and dizziness in a patient. Regurgitation, which is a backward flow of blood, can reduce efficiency of the heart pumping blood and also cause a patient to experience fatigue as well as shortness of breath.
Long term implants, such as prosthetic heart valves, can be used for diseased heart valve replacement. Some prosthetic heart valves are made entirely of synthetic materials, while others are made of a combination of synthetic materials and animal tissues, for example, bovine or porcine pericardium. Prosthetic heart valves made of synthetic materials can have inadequate chemical stability or cause an undesirable biological response in a patient while prosthetic heart valves made of animal tissue are often vulnerable to structural deterioration caused by calcification that results in the narrowing of the valve orifice and/or cusp tearing. There is a need for a prosthetic heart valve that can have long term chemical stability and mechanical properties that can mimic a native heart valve.